Auto retail sales stay in the slow lane in May: FADA
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI: Retail sales of passenger vehicles (PV) grew last month, but the sales of twowheeler and commercial vehicles (CV) remained low compared to the pre-covid month of May 2019, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).
On Monday, the automobile dealers’ body said overall auto retails stood at 1,646,773 units in May, down from 1,822,900 units in May 2019.
“May 2022 retails when compared to May 2019 reveal that sales are still not on a growth trajectory as overall retails were down by 10%. While PV and tractors continued its positive run... two-wheeler, threewheeler, and CV sales are yet to show any signs of healthy runrate,” FADA president Vinkesh
Gulati said in a statement.
While a year-on-year (y-o-y) comparison with May 2021 shows an exceptionally healthy growth rate across all categories, it is important to note that both May 2021 and May 2020 were affected by nationwide lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, he stated.
According to him, a better comparison will be with May 2019 which was a normal preCovid month.
Last month, the PV retail sales stood at 263,152 units. This was 11% higher compared to 236,215 units sold in May 2019.
The retails in Covid-hit May 2021 and May 2020 stood at 86,479 units and 31,951 units, respectively.
“The PV segment which has already surpassed May 2019 numbers is witnessing huge demand. Dealers are not able to fulfil the same due to supplyside issues,” he said, adding that this has led to an increase in waiting period ranging from three months to two years.
“Healthy booking and singledigit cancellation show that demand may stay put even when normal supply resumes in months to come,” Gulati noted.
Last month, two-wheeler sales stood at 1,222,994 units. It was at 410,871 units in May last year. In May 2019, the twowheeler retails stood at 1,420,563 units.
“The two-wheeler segment has seen a slight improvement in overall sales when compared with April this year,” Gulati said.
While the electric t wowheeler sales were growing rapidly, the fire incidents across almost all brands have created a fear in the mind of the customer, he stated.
“This coupled with supply chain issues has decreased twowheeler EV sales drastically from last month,” Gulati said.
The commercial vehicle sales stood at 66,632 units last month, up from 17,607 units in May last year. It, however, remained low as compared to 75,238 units in May 2019.
Similarly, three-wheeler sales remained muted last month at 41,508 compared with 51,446 units in May 2019. In May last year, the retail sales stood at 5,215 units.
However, tractor sales were up last month at 52,487 units from 39,438 units in May 2019.